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One season of sixty-five episodes, I'll point out. As a Saturday morning show is comprised of thirteen episodes in a season, those 65 episodes are equivalent to five seasons of a Saturday morning series. Perhaps he was speaking of it in this regard...or perhaps he just meant Volume 2.

So I made it through those two episodes. And boy, oh boy...does this show suck. And I don't say that lightly, having seen plenty of lousy animations in my time.

Flipshot and Hydron seemed like decent characters, but didn't blend at all with anything around them. What was with all the people dressed like characters from the bible?? Have any of the creators or crew ever explained why they designed the show to look like something from the bible? I'm at a complete loss there.

The old wise man was creepy. Skeletor was...just not Skeletor. It was nice to see Snake Mountain and his old throne again, but he was too much of a trickster to be frightening or interesting.

The Sorceress just seemed to order He-Man to go off to the future with little regard for his existing life. There had to be better ways to get He-Man moved into space...what was the story in the mini-comics that came with the figures?

The mutants were even less memorable than the worst of the Filmation villains crew.

The animation might be more elaborate, but the designs stink so there's not much credit we can give them there.

...it's pretty mind boggling that they even put this thing on the air. It goes to show how much effort the Filmation people put into their work, versus this thing. Yipes!

I remember the toys looking interesting/decent, so I can understand why there are still NA fans at all. But fans of this show? That's...pretty hard to imagine.

Flipshot and Hydron seemed like decent characters, but didn't blend at all with anything around them. What was with all the people dressed like characters from the bible?? Have any of the creators or crew ever explained why they designed the show to look like something from the bible? I'm at a complete loss there.

They did, actually. The guy behind the show goes (used to go?) on this board a lot, and he stated that Primus is supposed to represent Heaven. I can't say much about the rest of this topic, I just wanted to point that out.

They did, actually. The guy behind the show goes (used to go?) on this board a lot, and he stated that Primus is supposed to represent Heaven. I can't say much about the rest of this topic, I just wanted to point that out.

Interesting - I'd be curious to hear more about the creation of this show. I may not have the best impression of it now, but understanding what they were aiming for would probably be enlightening. Do you have a link to wherever the creator discussed all this?

I'd like to add that while I'm not the biggest fan of the series due to the silliness of the scientists, I enjoy it equally as much as the Filmation series which I find just as silly. In fact, I find the NA animation to be superior to the rehashed rotoscoped frames of Filmation. I also appreciate many of the characters and designs and welcome their inclusion in MOTUC.

"I reject your Prince Adam and replace him with the original barbarian from the jungle."

I am glad to hear that others enjoy the few likeable aspects of the show, that also entertain me. That said, the original package artwork, minicomics 1- 3 and the character concepts therein are the only real attractive features I've been able to find about NA.
That is, until the 4H started to produce them...

Interesting - I'd be curious to hear more about the creation of this show. I may not have the best impression of it now, but understanding what they were aiming for would probably be enlightening. Do you have a link to wherever the creator discussed all this?

This link to a podcast interview with me should provide you with the background you are seeking:

I'm the creator of NA and wrote thirty-seven episodes of the series. Indeed, as with all of my work during my career in the entertainment industry, I put a great deal of effort into NA, as well as writing the series bible. However, don't think twice about slamming my work. As most here know, I have written over 1,200 episodes of television and have developed an elephant-thick hide during my more than three decades in the entertainment industry. I welcome all comments and criticisms of my work, although I do prefer them to be civil. Although I appreciate praise, it's my feeling that as a writer, producer and director I gain much more from learning what I have done wrong, so don't ever feel you have to hold back with me. While I will defend my positions and decisions I made if I feel I was right, I will be the first one to agree with -- and benefit from -- anyone who can propose a cogent argument about how and why what I decided and did was wrong and how it might have been done better. The latter I have done on occasion here on the board and I am grateful for it as it is called 'learning'.

As most here also know, I consider it a privilege to be on this board as -- like I have said many times in the past -- writers, directors, producers and actors are nothing without fans...and critics.

Here's a rather incomplete sampling of some of my other work. Hopefully you liked a few of the other series I was involved with better than NA.

I've decided to watch two episodes of NA for the first time. I'd seen the intro sequence online and been really turned off, but out of curiosity have decided to give it a fair chance.

My two episodes of choice are the pilot, "A New Beginning", and "Once Upon A Time", since it features Teela's return.

God help me

There were far better episodes you could have chosen, and for what its worth sampling just 2 episodes and condemning a whole series is beyond unfair. There are some really crappy Filmation and MYP episodes as well to go with the awesome ones...food for thought

I am not saying you have to love it (many people don't) but seriously out of 93 episodes I could name 5 She-Ra ones that stink but that series is incredible as a whole.

Owner Fantastic Plastic Toys. Authorized Integrity Toys Dealer. We ship international. We carry Monster High, Realm of the Underworld, Funko, NECA, Japanese Imports & much more! Creator of Mystical Warriors of the Ring, a 2" Animal Wrestling Minifigure line, with toys now made in China! Check us out!

I've decided to watch two episodes of NA for the first time. I'd seen the intro sequence online and been really turned off, but out of curiosity have decided to give it a fair chance.

My two episodes of choice are the pilot, "A New Beginning", and "Once Upon A Time", since it features Teela's return.

God help me

From experience, I have to say you gotta give it more of a chance. I started a thread a while ago talking about my NA experience. Its hard adjusting from the original masters, but once you get into it, its enjoyable. I've come you really like NA. I really enjoy the figures too, and I really disliked them for the longest time. Its also nice to be able to pick Jack's brain about the show. I say give it a shot and you'll come across some really great episodes like "Four Ways to Sundown". Here's my thread. Perhaps it'll give you the little push you watch more of the show.

It has become a bit of a cliche, but the New Adventures of He-Man really is the most underrated part of MOTU's rich history.

The first volume of The New Adventures of He-Man features some of the best stories in the series - including the arrival of He-Man on the planet Primus, Prince Adam's heartfelt goodbye to his Mother and Father (the Queen and King of Eternia, respectfully) and of course, the introduction of many new allies and enemies. The animation has it's ups and downs, but generally it remains consistently good. We already know this is NOT the Filmation show, rather it is more similar to early '90's Japanese-influenced animation.

Although the character designs and animation style differ drastically from that of the original He-Man tales, don't look past this integral series. It would be a huge disservice to any fan to miss this epic part of He-Man's history. I recommend the show to any fan of He-Man, or just fans of old-school sci-fi animation.

I've argued this before, but New Adventures is the canonical continuation of He-Man's adventures on Eternia. Like it or not, NA is the natural, official, progression of what transpires in Adam's life. There is a lot to like if you give it the time.

And I have to agree with markatisu, two episodes (although I do like the one's you've chosen) are not enough to get into the series. Keep watching!

Where are the rest of my New AdventuresClassics figures?!?!?

**Staunch FILMationlover!!! **** MUST complete the New AdventuresFaction!!!**

While I completely agree you can’t judge an entire series by only one or two episodes, this thread is entitled “dipping my toe”, and that’s what I did. I picked two episodes with plenty of potential from a narrative perspective, and walked in with no preconceptions. I’m doing what everyone does – giving a new show a try, seeing how I feel and deciding whether to keep watching. I know this isn’t the Filmation series and I am capable of enjoying a He-man or She-Ra show that doesn’t have the Filmation logo in front of it. I’ve really been enjoying the 200X series’ second season lately, even though I didn't much care for the first back the in day.

He-Man isn’t exactly a fascinating character on his own. People still think of his show as an action figure ad, and that’s especially true when the plot doesn’t add up to much and the all characters come across as one-dimensional. That’s how I felt about the first NA episode – it didn’t leave me wanting more in any sense. Nothing really gelled in it, it didn’t have a strong identity and nothing jumped out as working.

I think the lesson here is that you really can’t reduce He-Man to his battle against Skeletor and his sword pose and leave all the other elements behind. Because he isn’t much of a character to begin with, you kind of need all the other supporting pieces (the sword/sorcery vibe, the supporting cast, some nice color choices and aesthetics) to round him out and make the whole thing work.

If you guys think there are other, better episodes of this series to watch, I'm open to trying another two. As Markatisu points out, She-Ra is a wonderful show in spite of a couple of dull episodes, so maybe I just stumbled across two of the weaker entries.

Thanks for your link Weasel - I will definitely read through your thread!

- - - Updated - - -

I found the first two NA mini-comics here at the Org, and am now watching through Pixel Dan's "Power and Honor" video reviewing this era of He-Man (I didn't even know he did such videos! I must educate myself further).

I have to say, as odd as it was that Adam lived (slept?) in Grayskull and that his transformation suddenly, inexplicably updated both his and the Sorceress' designs, I am enjoying the simplicity of the mini comic story more than the Pilot for the show. I think if they'd told it more from He-Man's perspective and not spent as much time on Primus, it would have been a stronger transition.

I'm also pleased to see Skeletor in the comics try to trick Hydron and Flipshot into stealing the power of Grayskull for him - Skeletor was suddenly all too willing in the show to walk away from Grayskull after years of trying to conquer it.

Still hoping you guys might suggest another episode for me to check out. I'm intrigued by the notion of this show having stronger continuity too...

While I completely agree you canít judge an entire series by only one or two episodes, this thread is entitled ďdipping my toeĒ, and thatís what I did. I picked two episodes with plenty of potential from a narrative perspective, and walked in with no preconceptions. Iím doing what everyone does Ė giving a new show a try, seeing how I feel and deciding whether to keep watching. I know this isnít the Filmation series and I am capable of enjoying a He-man or She-Ra show that doesnít have the Filmation logo in front of it. Iíve really been enjoying the 200X seriesí second season lately, even though I didn't much care for the first back the in day.

He-Man isnít exactly a fascinating character on his own. People still think of his show as an action figure ad, and thatís especially true when the plot doesnít add up to much and the all characters come across as one-dimensional. Thatís how I felt about the first NA episode Ė it didnít leave me wanting more in any sense. Nothing really gelled in it, it didnít have a strong identity and nothing jumped out as working.

I think the lesson here is that you really canít reduce He-Man to his battle against Skeletor and his sword pose and leave all the other elements behind. Because he isnít much of a character to begin with, you kind of need all the other supporting pieces (the sword/sorcery vibe, the supporting cast, some nice color choices and aesthetics) to round him out and make the whole thing work.

If you guys think there are other, better episodes of this series to watch, I'm open to trying another two. As Markatisu points out, She-Ra is a wonderful show in spite of a couple of dull episodes, so maybe I just stumbled across two of the weaker entries.

Thanks for your link Weasel - I will definitely read through your thread!

- - - Updated - - -

I found the first two NA mini-comics here at the Org, and am now watching through Pixel Dan's "Power and Honor" video reviewing this era of He-Man (I didn't even know he did such videos! I must educate myself further).

I have to say, as odd as it was that Adam lived (slept?) in Grayskull and that his transformation suddenly, inexplicably updated both his and the Sorceress' designs, I am enjoying the simplicity of the mini comic story more than the Pilot for the show. I think if they'd told it more from He-Man's perspective and not spent as much time on Primus, it would have been a stronger transition.

I'm also pleased to see Skeletor in the comics try to trick Hydron and Flipshot into stealing the power of Grayskull for him - Skeletor was suddenly all too willing in the show to walk away from Grayskull after years of trying to conquer it.

Still hoping you guys might suggest another episode for me to check out. I'm intrigued by the notion of this show having stronger continuity too...

Will do! And after reading through the other thread, I wanted to say that I liked that you considered how He-Man's distance from Grayskull would affect his power levels. Without even having really watched the show, I was thinking along the same lines...

I'm trying to make myself love new adventures. I even started buying the figures. In order to keep me motivated, I hope you guys can tell me your favorite episodes to give me something to look forward to. Wish me luck!

Hmmm - why try to make yourself like it? That's...well, I've never seen someone try to make themselves like a television show. I'm glad you ended up enjoying it, of course, but...

I think it is a well written show. I just view it more as a sci-fi show in general rather than a Masters of the Universe show, so I don't get caught up in how I think Skeletor and He-Man should be acting.

Also I think you made a mistake watching Once Upon a Time so quickly. Because most episodes are sci fi oriented and Once Upon a Time is one of like 4 episodes that is magic oriented.

Actually I enjoy magical stories as much (and maybe more) than Sci Fi ones. Seeing Skeletor go after the book of spells (was it?) felt more in keeping with his character, so that pleased me.

Given that you've all told me the series has some good continuity and that I picked two of the less successful episodes, I decided to give two more a look. First up was Four Ways To Sundown, which I found myself enjoying within the first minute of the show. It established a really nice, fun energy with the guys going back and forth over just what happened on the mission to find the fruit. I really liked the intercutting of the scenes on the two ships, and the animation of the fight scene over the water was rather thrilling and a definite high point of the episode. Overall, it held together much better than the first two episodes I watched, but I would say that I still had a hard time getting into the characters. Flipshot and Hydron told the exact same version of events, with everyone else being the weenies/frady cats, so I didn't really learn much about what makes them unique from each other. They both have big egos? I got a kick out of how they depicted He-Man as completely terrified, and laughed at a few moments - especially that jab about his sword being so useful - but from all the flashbacks I couldn't tell what had *actually* transpired during the mission. There was no clear honest version of events, so that was a little odd to me.

Filmation did episodes like these, with He-Man and Skeletor both going after some object, but typically by the halfway mark of the show, there would be a twist and something unexpected would happen. A third party would enter and complicate matters, for example. Here, the narrative was a bit too straight-forward and that left my interest waning by the midpoint. Again, the humor worked, but the tale of how they crossed the lake and essentially got the berries they came for didn't really offer any big surprises or show me too much about who they all were. I do, however, know that Slushhead's homeland is that swamp. And I found myself rather liking him in the episode!

The other episode I watched was the second of the series, The Quest for the Crystals I believe it was. I found the tone on that one all over the place, with things actually getting rather dark at the point when He-Man went into the bar to trade for the crystals they needed, and then later seeing the gent who double-crossed him admit his son was killed by some other alien (!) Perhaps the show was still finding itself there, but I found the shift jarring.

I think the show is a mix of elements that didn't entirely come together - a bit of Star Wars in the blend of simple farm folks and space criminals, and a bit of magic and a bit of He-Man and some humor, etc. I might give another episode a look, but from what I've seen there hasn't been enough there to really make me excited or hook me into wondering what will happen next. I'm not saying it was there in the Filmation He-Man show either, though - this is why the She-Ra series is far superior in my opinion. You wanted to see how they'd continue to fight the Horde. This show has that kind of potential, I suppose, with the dome and the mutants but...it doesn't feel strong enough to me. The visuals definitely play a big part in that. The show needed some stronger designs and overall styling to sell the Sci-Fi He-Man concept.

So, maybe "suck" is a harsh word to use. "Troubled" might be better, but then again, I see from YouTube comments there are many people who remember it fondly, with some knowing it as their "first, real" He-Man show. So there you go - to each his own, right?